Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has compared Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson. This comes following the Spaniard’s explosive reaction to a refereeing decision during the Gunners’ recent victory over Sunderland.
Suggesting that Arteta is now operating from a position of ultimate authority in the EPL, Carragher stated that the Arsenal manager is trying to flex his managerial muscle to influence referees.
Jamie added that he believes this public pressure on referees from Mikel is a calculated, long-term move.
His words, “This was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League right now.
He’s the don at the moment; he’s the Premier League champion. A lot of new managers about… he’s been in his role for six or seven years, and he feels he’s in a position of power to say, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t a penalty.’ And I don’t think it was a penalty.
One of the journalists made a point about, no matter what question you asked him, he kept going back to the penalty, so he was determined to get the narrative out that this won’t happen again to his club.
But that’s a manager – we’ve seen it with Sir Alex Ferguson, we’ve seen it with Jose Mourinho.
It’d be interesting to see how long it takes for another referee to give a penalty against Arsenal in a similar situation.”
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